Sunday, May 31, 2015

This weekend Dave Imrie and I arranged a game for a
subset of our AB1 group and a group of visiting Australian wargamers. The venue was the Kingswood Hotel in Burntisland Fife. It was another
fictional AWI game – the Battle of Red Clay Creek – adapted from our previous fictional
action the Battle of Germanwine.

I used almost the same OB as Germanwine but we added
a further 4ft of width to the table and simplified the rules for fording the
creek.To speed up the setup time and remove
the pregame player input I used chance (a pack of cards) to deploy the units and
also allocate the players to a command.We used Black Powder with my house rules and 66% movement and
ranges.16-20 figure infantry units were
standard units and 10-12 figure units small.

Centres about to engage

There were 10 players.Five Scots and 5 Queenslanders, Mark
Rogerson, Brett Morris, John Maguire, Glenn Lamprecht and Mitchell Clist who
are touring the military sites of Britain, Belgium and France took part.Jack Glanville, Angus Konstam and myself
provided the figures whilst Dave Imrie and Brian Phillips provided the
impressive terrain boards as the base of the terrain.The cards allocated me a British command and I
also acted as umpire.

We played the game for 6 hours and at the end we
declared a Patriot victory as they had avoided defeat by the British and both
sides still had reserves to commit.

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Hessians wade the river east of the bridge

View of the unfortunate British left - in centre troops are engaged

The British wing brigades had the worst of their
combat with their Patriot opponents.Which was unfortunate as they both contained
an elite combined grenadier battalion.Each
side committed their reserves in the centre including their cavalry – after
both had lost a brigade – and it was not clear at the end who would be
victorious here.The Patriot militia
holding the fence line east of the crossroads held of the attacks of the
Hessians and Brunswickers..

We all agreed that it was an enjoyable game played
in a very friendly manner with no problems.

In
late August 1777, after a distressing 34-day journey from Sandy Hook on the
coast of New Jersey, a Royal Navy fleet of more than 260 ships carrying some
17,000 British troops under the command of Sir William Howe landed at the head
of the Elk River, on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay approximately 40–50
miles (60–80 km) southwest of the rebel capital of Philadelphia.

General
George Washington had situated the American forces between Head of Elk and
Philadelphia. His forces were able to reconnoitre the British landing from Iron
Hill near Newark. Howe did not set up a typical camp but immediately prepared
to march across the gently rolling country inhabited chiefly by Tories, with
the expectation of making an easy conquest of Philadelphia. As a result,
Washington was not able to accurately gauge the strength of the opposing
forces.

After
a skirmish at Cooch's Bridge south of Newark, the British troops moved north
and Washington took up a defensive position long the Red Clay Creek.This site was important as it covered the
most direct route on the road from Baltimore to Philadelphia.The British grouped south of the creek and
General Howe decided to attack on the 11th of September.Loyalists have identified useful fords at the
creek and so substantial British forces have already crossed to the north bank
east of the Patriots.

British Objective/Deployment

Your
objective is to bring the rebel army to battle and defeat it thus ending the
war.Threatening their capital
Philadelphia forces the rebels finally to stand and fight.

You
know that your troops are far better trained than the rebels but you know from
experience at Boston that the rebels are formidable opponents when manning
defensive positions.

You
have noted that the rebels have deployed a strong force south west of the creek
to cover the minor route to Philadephia and protect the flank of their Creek
line.Their line runs half way across
the table.

You
have 8 infantry brigades (4 British, 3 German and a Loyalist) and a small cavalry
brigade available.The main body of the army is deployed off-table
south of the map.5 brigades are in
position to march onto the table initially.The other 4s arrival is delayed by the poor roads and tracks.

Chance
will decide on the 5 initial brigades and their position and also which reserve
arrives when called forward by the
British CinC.

Patriot Objective/Deployment

Your
objective is to prevent the British from moving north and capturing your
capital Philadelphia.Compared with last
year your army contains far more regular continental troops and is less
dependent on militia.

You
have 9 infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade available of which 6 can be
deployed on the table north of the line shown on your map.(Half way across the table) The other 4 brigades are deployed in reserve
off-table to the north.Chance will
decide on the 6 initial brigades and their position and also which reserve arrives
when called forward by the Patriot CinC.

Terrain
Notes

The
line of the Red Clay Creek is a defensive obstacle though crossed by a bridge
and is also fordable elsewhere.Troops
can cross the bridge normally (but only 1 unit at a time) and infantry and
cavalry can also ford the creek counting a-1 on their command level.Troops
fording the creek can only ever make 1 move in their turn.No troops can ford the creek under
Initiative.

Fence
lines do not provide cover from shooting but do give a +1 to morale saves.The buildings are all simply scenic.

Friday, May 29, 2015

On
Wednesday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for the first part of a two part saga set in
the era of the VBCW.Tim Watson came up
with the scenario.A VBCW faction has
been buying guns illegally in the USA and they are being shipped to Key Largo Florida
by the local of the teamsters.Various
other criminal and law enforcement groups are trying to stop or hijack the shipment.

The Lucky sue awaiting her cargo.....

I
commanded the state troopers and the national guard, Donald commanded the Italian
gangsters, Hugh the local police, Bart the teamsters and Colin a gang of molls
led by Bonnie Parker.

We
used the gangster variant of Legends of the West.The game worked well.The teamster convoy only got half way to the
harbour at Key Largo when it was stopped by the local police.This enabled all the other factions to close
up and a general firefight ensued.The
truck carrying the cargo was driven into a river by a teamster to prevent its
capture.However it was then found that
the cargo was silk stockings as the arms had already been transferred to a VBCW
submarine.It had all been a decoy.

Teamster convoy on the way

State troopers advance on the bridge

Once
again Hugh did a really great job with the terrain.The second part of the game will be the
arrival of the arms in the war torn VBCW UK.

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Here are some of my photos from this years successful Carronade show at Falkirk. I helped the SESWC with their East African display. A combined Anglo-Belgian attack on a German outpost. The first casualty in the game was the Belgian CO trampled down by 2 ostriches. My only buy at the show was some MDF bases from Martin at Warbases.

Friday, May 1, 2015

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for a 28mm Hail Caesar Hundred Years
War game.Dave O’Brien produced the
scenario including troop ratings for the Battle of Morlaix on 30
September 1342.Hugh provided the
terrain and Dave most of the troops with the remainder coming from the
collection of Donald Adamson.

Battle line deployed

I commanded the English force and simply deployed my command behind the
line of wolf pits.The French attacked
with 2 of their divisions leaving the knights in reserve of table.On our right centre the Genoese crossbowmen
steadily outshot the facing English longbowmen.The first attack by the French sergeants on our left was amazingly
successful and drove their opponents back into the forest.The French cavalry then rallied back to
regroup before launching a second attack which was also partly successful.Once the crossbowmen wore down their English
opponents then the French knights launched their attack.One wing of the knights forced back their opponents
but when the second wing was ordered to charge it turned its back and fled from
the English.

At the end of the game the French had lost 4 units (corrected) nd the English none
but a large part of the English force was heavily battered and had withdrawn
into the forests.I would count the game
as a French marginal victory.

A fun game….highlighted by some consistently bad shooting by the longbowmen w.

First attack of the sergeants

Background

The HYW has
been ongoing for 5 years and apart from the naval action at Sluys 1340 nothing
major has happened until Edward III decided to get involved in the dispute over
the succession to the Dukedom of Brittany. Edward has decided to support the
wife of John de Montfort who usurped the title from Charles de Blois the
rightful contender. John has been imprisoned in Paris by the King and Charles
has advanced to recapture the towns taken by John and his wife.

An English
force under the command of the Earl of Northampton has landed in Brittany and
is currently besieging the town to Morlaix when they were warned by scouts that
a large force led by Charles is advancing to break the siege. Not wanting to be
caught between two forces Northampton has decided to take most of his troops
from the siege lines and march during the night to surprise the French. The
French had camped for the night outside the village of Lameur and in the
morning were surprised to find the English in battle formation on a ridge along
their line of march.

The young an
inexperienced French commander held a council of war to decide how best to
attack the English and it wasn’t until after midday before they finally decided
to launch an attack.

The English
have drawn up in three battles under the Earls of Northampton, Derby and Oxford
while the French have drawn up in three large battles. The main battle of
knights is commanded by Charles while another cavalry and infantry force is
commanded by Geoffrey de Charny while an infantry battle of Genoese crossbow
men and French peasants and militia are commanded by Robert de Guesclin.

Bidets lead the French central attack

French knights about to launch the final attacks

Here are the
player briefings.

English Briefing

The French
had camped for the night outside the village of Lameur and in the morning were
surprised to find your force in battle formation on a ridge along their line of
march. The young an inexperienced French commander has held a council of war to
decide how best to attack the you and it isn’t until after midday before they
finally decided to launch an attack.

What they don’t know is that during the night you dug camouflaged pits 6”
away along the front of your troops, any enemy infantry crossing will be
automatically disordered and suffer 1 casualty test, enemy cavalry will suffer
d2 casualty tests. This might reduce as the pits get trampled on and filled
with bodies.

You have drawn up in three battles under the Earls of Northampton, Derby
and Oxford,

you are rated as a 9 and the others as 8’s

Victory conditions

Destroy the
enemy force 3 points

For each
enemy commander killed or captured 1 point

For each
enemy unit of knights destroyed 1 point

French Briefing

An English
force has under the command of the Earl of Northampton has in battle formation
on a ridge along your line of march, you must destroy them before being able to
march to Morlaix and lift the siege. Unfortunately your council of war took
longer than expected and it is now passed midday before you can launch your
attack before it gets dark and the English can slip away.

The main
battle of knights is commanded by yourself Charles while another cavalry and
infantry force is commanded by Geoffrey de Charny while an infantry battle of
Genoese crossbow men and French peasants and militia are commanded by Robert de
Guesclin but there is not much you can expect from your militia and levies.